Reporting on facts relative to a specified dimensional coordinate constraint

ABSTRACT

A received report query specifies a dimension coordinate constraint and an associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint. At least one query is generated to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection. A result of providing the at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection is processed. The processed result includes an indication of every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having a particular value at the associated grain, and the processed result further includes facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection that are specified by at least one other dimension coordinate indicated by the processed result having the particular value at the associated grain and not satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint.

BACKGROUND

The present invention is in the field of reporting on facts of or derived from a collection of facts organized as, or otherwise accessible according to, a dimensional data model. For shorthand throughout this description, such a collection of facts is referred to as a dimensionally-modeled fact collection. In particular, the present invention relates to reporting on facts considering the phenomena in which a specific grain value of dimension coordinates satisfying a (one or more) dimension coordinate constraint of a report query to a dimensionally-modeled fact collection may also be the value, at that grain, for other dimension coordinates that do not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint.

It is known to respond to a query to a dimensionally-modeled fact collection by reporting on the facts contained in the dimensionally-modeled fact collection. Reports are typically generated to allow one to glean information from facts that are associated with locations in a dimensional data space according to which the dimensionally-modeled fact collection is modeled.

Locations in an n-dimensional data space are specified by n-tuples of coordinates, where each member of the n-tuple corresponds to one of the n dimensions. For example, (“San Francisco”, “Sep. 30, 2002”) may specify a location in a two-dimensional data space, where the dimensions are LOCATION and TIME. Coordinates need not be single-grained entities. That is, coordinates of a single dimension may exist at, or be specified with respect to, various possible grains (levels of detail). In one example, a coordinate of a LOCATION dimension comprises the following grains: CONTINENT, COUNTRY, CITY.

The order of the grains may have some hierarchical significance. The grains are generally ordered such that finer grains are hierarchically “nested” inside coarser grains. Using the LOCATION dimension example, the CITY grain may be finer than the COUNTRY grain, and the COUNTRY grain may be finer than the CONTINENT grain. Where the order of the grains of a dimension has hierarchical significance, the value of a coordinate of that dimension, at a particular grain, is nominally such that the value of the coordinate of that dimension has only one value at any coarser grain for that dimension. In an example, a value of a coordinate of a LOCATION dimension may be specified at the CITY grain of the LOCATION dimension by the value “Los Angeles.” This same coordinate has only one value at the COUNTRY and CONTINENT grains: “US” and “NORTH AMERICA”, respectively.

SUMMARY

A method/system considers the phenomenon in which, for each of at least one of the dimension coordinates that satisfy a dimension coordinate constraint of a report query, that dimension coordinate has a particular value at a grain associated with the report query, and there are other dimension coordinates that have that particular value at the associated grain and that do not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint. This phenomenon may occur as a result of slowly changing dimensions and other scenarios. The phenomenon is considered in the process of reporting on facts of a collection of facts organized as, or otherwise accessible according to, a dimensionally-modeled fact collection.

A received report query specifies a dimension coordinate constraint and an associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint. At least one query is generated to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection. A result of providing the at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection is processed. The processed result includes an indication of every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint. The processed result further includes facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection that are specified by the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint, as well as facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection that are specified by at least one other dimension coordinate that does not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint, wherein each of the at least one other dimension coordinate has a value at the associated grain that is the same as the value at the associated grain of one of the dimension coordinates that does satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture of a system in which reporting of facts of a dimensionally-modeled fact collection is performed in an unfettered manner.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a multiple-pass processing method.

FIGS. 3A and 3B together illustrate an example of generating a report in an unfettered manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors have realized that it is desirable to consider the phenomenon in which, for each of at least one of the dimension coordinates that satisfy a dimension coordinate constraint of a report query, that dimension coordinate has a particular value at a grain associated with the report query and there are other dimension coordinates that have that particular value at the associated grain and that do not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint. This phenomenon arises when one or more dimensions in which the dimension coordinates exist is a slowly changing dimension. In addition, there are other scenarios in which, for each of one or more of the dimension coordinates satisfying the report query, that dimension coordinate has a particular value at a grain associated with the report query and there are other dimension coordinates that have that particular value at the associated grain and that do not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint.

We first discuss the well-known phenomenon in the field of dimensional data modeling of “slowly changing dimensions.” This is a phenomenon in which the relationship of grains for a dimension may change over time. While it may be contrived to consider the concept of slowly changing dimensions with reference to the example LOCATION dimension (since, generally, the relationship of CONTINENT, COUNTRY and CITY grains will not change over time), there are other more realistic examples of this phenomenon.

As one illustration, consider an EMPLOYEE dimension that is intended to represent an organizational chart of a company. In this example, the EMPLOYEE dimension comprises the following grains: ORGANIZATION, DIVISION, TEAM and PERSON. Using this example, it can be seen that values of coordinates at various grains may change as a person moves from one team to another team (or, perhaps, a team moves from one division to another division). For example, in one month, Joe worked on the Red Team; the next month, he worked on the Blue Team. This may be modeled by one EMPLOYEE dimension coordinate having the value “Joe” at grain PERSON and the value “Red Team” at grain TEAM, plus a second EMPLOYEE dimension coordinate also having the value “Joe” and grain PERSON but the value “Blue Team” at grain TEAM. It is also possible to encode in the representation of the dimension coordinates the specific time intervals during which these grain relationships obtained.

As more background to the issue of temporal dimensions (slowly changing dimensions), we use an example relative to the EMPLOYEE dimension, mentioned above, intended to represent an organizational chart of a company. The EMPLOYEE dimension comprises the grains of ORGANIZATION, DIVISION, TEAM and PERSON. In this example, various people have moved onto and off of the Red Team. This phenomenon is modeled by EMPLOYEE dimension coordinates having value “Red Team” at grain TEAM, and having values indicative of those people at grain PERSON; these dimension members and that grain relationship are further qualified by the times during which that relationship obtained. These dimension members may be represented as follows:

TABLE 1 value at date range for which this value at PERSON PERSON value at grain has the value of “Red Team” at the grain TEAM grain TEAM grain Joe Red Team Jan. 4, 2004 to Mar. 1, 2006 Mary Red Team Mar. 3, 2003 to Jul. 18, 2006 Bill Red Team Dec. 1, 2005 to Dec. 12, 2005 Continuing with the example, and noticing that Bill is only on the Red Team for part of December 2005, consider that Bill was on the Blue Team from 13 Dec. 2005 to 31 Dec. 2005. Finally, also consider that the number of calls taken during December 2005 by Joe, Mary and Bill (and Zoe as well) is represented as follows:

TABLE 2 date range (during value at December) for PERSON “number of calls” number of grain value at TEAM grain value calls taken Joe Red Team Dec. 1, 2005 to 10 Dec. 31, 2005 Mary Red Team Dec. 1, 2005 to 22 Dec. 31, 2005 Bill Red Team Dec. 1, 2005 to 8 Dec. 12, 2005 Bill Blue Team Dec. 13, 2005 to 6 Dec. 31,2005 Zoe Blue Team Dec. 1, 2005 to 12 Dec. 31, 2005

Given the preceding information, a report query may request the number of calls taken during December 2005 by persons who were on the Red Team sometime during December 2005. There are some analytic scenarios in which a user may desire to know the number of calls taken by each person on the Red Team (including Bill) during December 2005 to include only those calls taken while that person was actually on the Red Team (a dimension coordinate constraint). These may be thought of as reporting on facts in a “fettered” manner, since the facts accounted for in the reported results not only correspond to the dimension coordinate constraint of persons on the Red Team but, in addition, are bound by the dimension coordinate constraint of persons on the Red Team (i.e., include facts for persons on the Red Team only while those persons are actually on the Red Team). Thus, for example, the record indicating the six calls taken by Bill while Bill was on the Blue team is not utilized for the report.

This is what would be reported conventionally. For example, using the preceding information regarding calls taken, such a report (i.e., with Bill being attributed only those calls taken during December 2005 by Bill while Bill is actually on the Red Team) may be as follows:

TABLE 3 value at PERSON grain December 2005 Joe 10 Mary 22 Bill 8

For example, using the preceding information regarding calls taken by Joe, Mary and Bill, it may be useful for a user to know the number of calls taken by each person on the Red Team during December 2005, without regard for whether that person was actually on the Red Team when the calls were taken. That is, it may be useful for the facts accounted for in the reported results, while corresponding in some sense to the dimension coordinate constraint of persons on the Red Team, to be not bound by the dimension coordinate constraint of persons on the Red Team (i.e., may include facts for persons on the Red Team even while those persons were not actually on the Red Team). Thus, for example, the record indicating the six calls taken by Bill while Bill was on the Blue team is utilized for this unfettered report.

Reporting on the facts in such an unfettered manner, Bill is attributed calls taken during December 2005 without regard for the team of which Bill is a member when a particular call is taken, and the report would be as follows:

TABLE 4 value at PERSON grain December 2005 Joe 10 Mary 22 Bill 14

Thus far, we have discussed scenarios arising due to the phenomenon of slowly changing dimensions. As mentioned above, the inventors have realized that there are other analytic scenarios in which it would be useful for the facts to be reported in an “unfettered manner” (i.e., in a manner that corresponds to, but is not strictly bound by the dimension coordinate constraint of the report query). In general, such analytic scenarios arise in situations where a grain value of dimension coordinates satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint of a report query may also be the value, at that grain, for other dimension coordinates that do not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint of the report query.

For example, referring to Table 5 below, a dimension coordinate constraint of a report query may be with respect to weeks in the month of January (ignoring the beginning of January for simplicity of explanation).

TABLE 5 January week 3 10 January week 4 22 January week 5 8 February week 5 6 February week 6 3 Thus, with reference to Table 5, a report query for calls taken during a week in January (the dimension coordinate constraint being, in informal terms, “a week in January”) would result in the dimension coordinates characterized by:

-   -   “January” at the month grain and “week 3” at the week grain;     -   “January” at the month grain and “week 4” at the week grain; and     -   “January” at the month grain and “week 5” at the week grain.         However, the value of “week 5” at the week grain is also the         value, at the week grain, of the dimension coordinate         characterized by:     -   “February” at the month grain and “week 5” at the week grain.

Therefore, when reporting in a fettered manner, the reported “number of calls” in response to the report query of “calls taken during a week in January” would result in a report of 10+22+8=40 calls. On the other hand, when reporting in an unfettered manner, the reported “number of calls” in response to the same report query would result in a report of 10+22+8+6=46 calls. That is, when reporting in a fettered manner, the six calls occurring during week 5 in February would not be reported, since the portion of week 5 that is in February is not in January. On the other hand, when reporting in an unfettered manner, the six calls occurring during week 5 in February would be reported. That is, these calls are still for a dimension coordinate with “week 5” at the week grain, even though the dimension coordinate does not satisfy the report query, since the dimension coordinate has the value “February” at the month grain.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture of a system 100 in which reporting of facts of a dimensionally-modeled fact collection is performed in an unfettered manner. Referring to FIG. 1, a user 102 may cause a report query 104 to be provided to a fact collection query generator 106. For example, the user 102 may interact with a web page via a web browser, where the web page is served by a report user interface using, for example, a Java Server Page mechanism. In this example, the user 102 interacts with the web page such that the report query 104 is provided to the fact collection query generator 106. The report query 104 includes a dimension coordinate constraint, which may be one or more dimension coordinate constraints.

In general, a dimension coordinate constraint for a dimension of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection specifies coordinates of that dimension of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection. For example, a dimension coordinate constraint may specify coordinates of that dimension of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection by specifying a value of the dimension at a particular grain. Dimension coordinate constraints of the report query 104, then, specify a subset of coordinates of one or more dimensions of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, on which it is desired to report.

The fact collection query generator 106 processes the report query 104 to generate an appropriate corresponding fact collection query 108, which is presented to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection 110. A result 116 of presenting the fact collection query 108 to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection 110 is processed by a report generator 118 to generate a report corresponding to the report query 104 caused to be provided by the user 102. In particular, the generated report includes an indication of dimensional members as appropriate in view of the dimensional coordinate constraints of the report query 104.

In one example, the dimensionally-modeled fact collection 110 is implemented as a relational database, storing fact data in a manner that is accessible to users according to a ROLAP—Relational Online Analytical Processing—schema (fact and dimension tables). In this case, the fact collection query 108 may originate as a database query, in some form that is processed into another form, for example, which is processed by an OLAP query engine into a fact collection query 108, presented as an SQL query that is understandable by the underlying relational database. This is just one example, however, and there are many other ways of representing and accessing a dimensionally-modeled fact collection.

Processing 118 is applied to the fact collection result 116 to generate a report. The generated report includes an indication of dimension members and facts corresponding to those indicated dimension members. For example, the facts corresponding to those indicated dimension members may be reported in an “unfettered” (i.e., in a manner that is not bound by the dimension coordinate constraint of the report query) such as is discussed above relative to the example of Bill and the Red Team. The facts corresponding to those indicated dimension members may be reported in a “fettered” manner (i.e., in a manner that is bound by the dimension coordinate constraints of the report query 104).

Referring still to FIG. 1, the composition of the generated report may be accomplished by the fact collection query generator 106 particularly generating the fact collection query 108 in accordance with the report query, by the result processing 118 particularly processing the fact collection result (e.g., by applying filtering) in accordance with report query, or by a combination of both.

As also illustrated in FIG. 1, the report query 104 may include an unfettered/fettered mode designation, which may be provided, for example, via a user interface. In some examples, in the absence of such an unfettered/fettered mode designation, the manner in which the facts corresponding to those indicated dimension members are reported may be according to a default mode or according to a preconfigured mode. The fact collection query generator 106 and/or the result processing 118, as appropriate, operate according to the default, preconfigured or designated mode.

In accordance with one example, a multiple-pass processing is utilized. An example of the multiple-pass processing is illustrated by the flowchart of FIG. 2. In a first pass 202, every dimension coordinate (which may be one or more dimension coordinates) that satisfies the dimension coordinate constraint is determined. The determined dimension coordinates have a particular value at a particular grain. In another pass 204, at least one other dimension coordinate (which may be one or more other dimension coordinates) is determined that does not satisfy the dimension coordinates constraint, wherein each of the at least one other dimension coordinates has a value at the associated grain that is the same as the value at the associated grain of one of the dimension coordinates determined in the first pass 202. In yet another pass 206, the facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection are determined that are specified by the determined dimension coordinates and by the determined at least one other dimension coordinate.

FIG. 3A illustrates steps of a specific example of generating a report in an unfettered manner. Corresponding FIG. 3B provides supplemental explanatory material for the FIG. 3A example. Referring to FIG. 3A, at step 302, a report query is received, and the report query includes a dimension coordinate constraint of “persons on the Blue Team.” Oval 352 of FIG. 3B illustrates a formalistic representation of the dimension coordinate constraint and the associated grain. At step 304 of FIG. 3A, the received report query is processed to obtain all (one or more) dimension coordinates in which the value at the team grain is “Blue Team.” Oval 354 of FIG. 3B indicates that, in the example, the obtained dimension coordinates have a value of “Joe,” “Sally” or “Mista” at the Person grain (in addition to having the value of “Blue Team” at the Team grain).

At step 306, all (one or more) dimension coordinates are obtained that satisfy a replacement dimension coordinate constraint, including the grain values obtained at step 304 (“Joe,” “Sally” or “Mista”), without the constraint of “person on the Blue Team.” Oval 356 illustrates a formalistic representation of the step 306 dimension coordinate constraint.

At step 308, operations corresponding to the report query are performed on the facts specified by the dimension coordinates obtained at step 306. That is, as illustrated by oval 358, operations to generate the report are performed on the facts specified by all dimension coordinates for which the value at the Person grain is “Joe,” “Sally” or “Mista” but for which the value at the Team grain may be, but is not necessarily, “Blue Team.”

We have described herein a method/system which considers the phenomenon in which a particular value at a grain associated with a dimension coordinate constraint of a report query may also be the value, at the associated grain, for other dimension coordinates that do not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint of the report query. 

1. A method of processing a request including a specification of a dimension coordinate constraint and a specification of a particular associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint, to a dimensionally-modeled fact collection, the method comprising: receiving the specification of the dimension coordinate constraint and the specification of the particular associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint; processing an indication of a fact reporting mode, the fact reporting mode being selectable by a user designation; generating at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection; and processing a result of providing the at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, wherein the processed result includes an indication of every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint, and wherein the processed result further includes: fettered facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, the fettered facts being specified by the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint, and in response to the indication of the fact reporting mode indicating an unfettered mode, automatically including unfettered facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, the unfettered facts being specified by at least one other dimension coordinate that does not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint, wherein each of the at least one other dimension coordinate has a value at the associated grain that is the same as the value at the associated grain of one of the every dimension coordinate that does satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint; and returning the processed result in response to the request; the unfettered facts providing an additional type of selectable information for the returned processed result that is not strictly bound by the dimension coordinate constraint to account for a situation in which at least one value at a selected grain level is related to more than one dimension coordinate at another grain level over a time period of interest.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: for each of the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint, the at least one other dimension coordinate includes all dimension coordinates not satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having the value, at the associated grain, of that dimension coordinate.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein returning the processed result comprises: reporting the processed result.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the indication of the fact reporting mode via a user interface.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the step of generating a query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection is such that the result of providing the query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection includes facts that are specified by the at least one other dimension coordinate.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint; determining the at least one other dimension coordinate based on the determined every dimension coordinate; and determining the facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection that are specified by the determined every dimension coordinate and by the determined at least one other dimension coordinate.
 7. A method of processing a request including a specification of a dimension coordinate constraint and a specification of a particular associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint, to a dimensionally-modeled fact collection, the method comprising: receiving the specification of the dimension coordinate constraint and the specification of the particular associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint; processing an indication of a fact reporting mode selectable by a user designation, wherein the fact reporting mode is one of a fettered mode and an unfettered mode; generating at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection; processing a result of providing the at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, and processing the indicated fact reporting mode; wherein the processed result includes: an indication of every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having a particular value at the associated grain; and if the result of processing the indicated fact reporting mode is that the indicated fact reporting mode is a fettered mode or an unfettered mode, facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection specified by the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint; if the result of processing the indicated fact reporting mode is that the indicated fact reporting mode is an unfettered mode, automatically including facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection for at least one other dimension coordinate that does not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint, wherein each of the at least one other dimension coordinate has a value at the associated grain that is the same as the value at the associated grain of one of the every dimension coordinates that does satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint; and returning the processed result in response to the request; the unfettered facts providing an additional type of selectable information for the returned processed result that is not strictly bound by the dimension coordinate constraint to account for a situation in which at least one value at a selected grain level is related to more than one dimension coordinate at another grain level over a time period of interest.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein: the at least one other dimension coordinate includes, for each of the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint, all dimension coordinates not satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having the value, at the associated grain, of that dimension coordinate.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein: the step of processing the indicated fact reporting mode includes receiving the indicated fact reporting mode via a user interface.
 10. A computer program product for processing a request providing a specification of a dimension coordinate constraint and a specification of a particular associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint, to a dimensionally-modeled fact collection, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored therein which are configured to cause at least one computing device to: execute the computer program instructions to receive the specification of the dimension coordinate constraint and the specification of the particular associated grain for the dimension coordinate constraint; execute the computer program instructions to process an indication of a fact reporting mode the fact reporting mode being selectable by a user designation; execute the computer program instructions to generate at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection; and execute the computer program instructions to process a result of providing the at least one query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, wherein the processed result includes an indication of every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having a particular value at the associated grain, and wherein the processed result in response to the indication of the fact reporting mode indicating an unfettered mode, further automatically includes unfettered facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection, the unfettered fact being specified by at least one other dimension coordinate that does not satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint, wherein each of the at least one other dimension coordinate has a value at the associated grain that is the same as the value at the associated grain of one of the every dimension coordinates that does satisfy the dimension coordinate constraint; and returning the processed result in response to the request; the unfettered facts providing an additional type of selectable information for the returned processed result that is not strictly bound by the dimension coordinate constraint to account for a situation in which at least one value at a selected grain level is related to more than one dimension coordinate at another grain level over a time period of interest.
 11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein: for each of the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint, the at least one other dimension coordinate includes, all dimension coordinates not satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint and having the value, at the associated grain, of that dimension coordinate.
 12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to: execute the computer program instructions to report the processed result.
 13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to: execute the computer program instructions to receive the indication of the fact reporting mode via a user interface.
 14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein: the computer program instructions operable to cause the at least one computing device to execute the computer program instructions to generate a query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection is such that the result of providing the query to the dimensionally-modeled fact collection includes facts that are specified by the at least one other dimension coordinate.
 15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to: execute the computer program instructions to cause the at least one computing device to determine the every dimension coordinate satisfying the dimension coordinate constraint; execute the computer program instructions to determine the at least one other dimension coordinate based on the determined every dimension coordinate; and execute the computer program instructions to determine the facts of the dimensionally-modeled fact collection that are specified by the determined every dimension coordinate and by the determined at least one other dimension coordinate. 